Islam started as an Arab religion in the Arabian peninsula. Over the next 1000 years, Islam spread through much of the world. It has some interesting parallels with Christianity which started as a Jewish movement on the West bank of the Jordon river but grew apart and distinct, but its origins are stlll in the Abrahamic religion.
Most Muslims are not Arabs just as most Christians are not Jewish. This dynamic is constantly lost on people in the media, especially TV. The term “Arab Spring” itself is a misnomer. Egyptians and Tunisians don’t consider themselves to be Arabs. Iran is mostly Persians, who view Arabs with almost the same level of ethnic hatred as they have for “the Jews”. Turks and Arabs have centuries of killing each other.
Most people in Western Libya consider themselves to be Berbers, the nomadic peoples of the Sahara desert and more aligned with Morocco than Saudi Arabia. Qaddafi is mixed ethnicity which is typical if people on the coast who have been conquered over and over by different armies.
The source of a lot of this confusion is that as Islam was spread by force, the Arabic language was forced on the conquered territories. To call Berbers Arabs is about the same as callng Cherokee Indians “English” because we forced them to speak English.
The Turkish Ottoman empire tried to build railroads in the middle east (in Syria, Jordon and Saudi Arabua) in order to exert control over the Arab lands prior to World War One (The war to end all wars). The oil wealth of the middle east wasn’t yet as important as control of the holy cities of Islam and trade routes.
Time to go watch Lawrence of Arabia and figure out England’s role in the Middle East and see if Turkey is ready to refight world war one. I don’t think Turkey is behind the “Arab Spring”, but nature abhors a vacuum and there is a loud sucking sound coming from Brussels lately.
I just watched Lawrence last week again. You are spot on.
Brussels – isn’t that where sprouts come from? (said with tongue firmly in cheek)
I haven’t seen the movie and always distrust movies about history with the idea that the people making the movie have the objective of framing history in what may be an inaccurate account. I think I know what happened in World War II because of the movies I saw – much more than reading the encyclopedia. American movies would tend to avoid explaining the firebombing of Dresden.
My interest is more in the railroad 😉 back when John Batchelor was a guest in Israel the first time, Malcolm Hoenlein took him to the border with Jordon in the desert, and the railcars are still sitting in the desert where they were abandoned. Part of the line has been restored, but it doesn’t really have a destination. Saudi Arabia has been talking about building an east/west rail link – I should check into that. Kaddafi was working with tge Russians to make a connection from Egypt to Tunesia, but it didn’t seem to get built. People in the area recognize the military risks of a rail line
I can admit a train fascination as well. I would think camels fare better in shifting sands than immovable tracks. It would be interesting to know some of the history of the rail in that area of the world. But, the train would be faster aleit a target.
Here is another interesting railroad artifact
http://www.nsfegypt.com/elferdanrailbridge
One of the ideas floated how to create a “unified Palestinean State” combining Gaza and the West Bank without compromising Israel’s security is to build a rail link. People and goods could then traverse between the two places over a corridor that could be reasonably secure.
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/07/20/2108910/fighting-against-gadhafi-spurs.html